Based on the way McAllister, Ubaldo, and Kazmir have been throwing the ball recently, I think the Indians need to sign Mickey Calloway to a lifetime contract.

He figured out that Ubaldo slowed down his motion by a full second since his glory days and got him to speed it back up. The results speak for themselves.

He taught McAllister to throw a forkball and Kazmir to throw a "spiked" curve, giving both another weapon in their arsenal so they don't have to rely on the fastball as much. Again, the results have been dramatic. This guy is making chicken salad out of chicken you-know-what.

Whoever made the decision to give Kazmir a tryout after he got lit up in the Atlantic League last year should also get a promotion. And Francona should get a lifetime managing contract just for bringing in Calloway.

Like I said earlier, proven starters are expensive. Teams like the Indians need to find reclamation projects like Kazmir and unwanted minor leaguers like McAllister and salvage them. That's where a guy like Calloway becomes invaluable.

The Indians finally got some money to work with and had to make some choices. They went hard after Swisher and got him. They decided to sign Reynolds, although I'm not sure he was their first choice. The lucked out and got Bourn, but they had to make a multi-year commitment. They raped the D-Backs and Reds by getting Bauer, Stubbs, and Shaw for one year of Shin-Soo Choo. The Rich Hill acquisition is also paying off, and the Rogers for Aviles and Gomes deal is shaping up to be another steal. The only questionable move so far was signing Myers, but that's only a one-year deal.

So far it looks like the front office hit a grand slam in the first year in a long time where they had some ammunition to work with.

CAVSTRIBEBROWNSin07! wrote:That might be the biggest overreaction I've read on these boards since LeBron hinted that one time how much he loved Cleveland and everyone took it to mean he was staying.

Could very well be an overreaction but anybody who can fix Ubaldo has a job in my organization for as long as he wants one.

Not to mention whatever role he had in bringing Kazmir back from the dead and developing McAllister from just another guy who could fall out of any minor league bus to what he's doing right now.

Hey, just let me enjoy this while it lasts. Which may not be through the weekend.

The worry is that since Ubaldo can't continue to throw 2 bullpen side sessions all season without his arm falling off, will the performances continue when he goes down to 1?It seems like if one tiny thing doesn't align in Ubaldo's mechanics, it all goes to shit.

"There is but one thing of real value: to cultivate truth and justice and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men"

CAVSTRIBEBROWNSin07! wrote:That might be the biggest overreaction I've read on these boards since LeBron hinted that one time how much he loved Cleveland and everyone took it to mean he was staying.

Not to mention that if you read the Kazmir thread you'll see Calloway had nothing (or very, very little) to do with Kazmir regaining his velocity, regianing the bite on his slider or developing that curveball.

I could have sworn I read that Calloway got Kazmir to start throwing the spiked curve but now I can't find the column, so I may have been mistaken. At any rate, after reading the Kazmir column you posted it's clear that the majority of his success is due to his own efforts to get back in shape and the coach that helped him straighten out his mechanics.